The Arch.

Saint Louis Travel Blog

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is located in St. Louis, Missouri near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was designated as a National Memorial by Executive Order 7523, on December 21, 1935, and is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). The park was established to commemorate several historical events: the Louisiana Purchase, and the subsequent westward movement of American explorers and pioneers; the first civil government west of the Mississippi River; the debate over slavery raised by the Dred Scott case.

The memorial site consists of a 91-acre (37 ha) park along the Mississippi River on the site of the original city of St. Louis; the Old Courthouse, a former state and federal courthouse which saw the origins of the Dred Scott case; the 4,200 m² (45,000-sq.

ft) Museum of Westward Expansion; and the Gateway Arch, an inverted steel catenary arch that has become the definitive icon of the city. As the park entered the 21st century it is host to four million visitors each year, three quarters of whom enter the Arch or the Old Courthouse.

The Gateway Arch.

The Old Courthouse sits at the heart of the city of Saint Louis, with the arch to the east, near the river's edge. The interior of a tram car. The Arch is known as the "Gateway to the West". Designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel, it stands 630 feet (192 m) tall, and is 630 feet (192 m) wide at its base. It is the tallest habitable structure in St.

Louis (taller than One Metropolitan Square, the tallest building), and the second tallest in Missouri (behind One Kansas City Place in Kansas City), as well as the world's tallest monument.

The cross-sections of its legs are equilateral triangles, narrowing from 54 feet (16.5 m) per side at the base to 17 feet (5.2 m) at the top. Each wall consists of a stainless steel skin covering reinforced concrete from ground level to 300 feet (91 m), with carbon steel and rebar from 300 feet (91 m) to the peak. The interior of the Arch is hollow and contains a unique transport system leading to an observation deck at the top. The interior of the Arch also contains two emergency stairwells of 1076 steps each, in the event of a need to evacuate the Arch or if a problem develops with the tram system.